We got through Italy without getting pickpocketed or stolen from, which was a plus, and had an amazing time. We actually camped all through Italy, it was definatley interesting, it got a little old after a week but it was different. Camping in Florence was the best because our tent overlooked the entire town from on top of a huge hill. Our tent was a little sloped and at any minute might have just tumbled down the hill, but it was fun nonetheless.

Because a traveling day wouldnt be complete without some type of something going wrong, our flight to Athens from Milan got delayed. I'll start off by explaining that the Milan airport is about an hour from the trainstatin, which is how we arrived in Milan. I was grumpy because we thought we were going to have to sleep in the airport. Our flight was at 7am and there were no affordable hotels anywhere close to the airport. Luckily, we founf out that the bus to the airport from the train station began at 4 or so AM, which meant we could get at least a few hours of sleep...not in the airport. We walked around untill we found a 1 star pretty decent hotel and ate Chinease (we were absolutley over Pizza) and watched the world cup. We were so thankful that we chose to stay in the hotel because after gettin gup at 3 to get to the bus and the airport in time to check in for our flight, we learned that our flight was delayed for 4 hours. Right off the bat we were supposed to leave at 7 and now had to hang out to 11. Right when we were getting in line to board at 11 they said it was going to be delayed another hour. Thats when Dave and I got our first beer of the day. Needless to say we eventually got there, 5 or 6 hours after we were supposed to have.

On the way from the airport to the port port, we almost died on the bus. I'm not even being dramitic. It was so crazy, bus drivers are insane. The bus was piled from floor to ceiling with luggage and Dave and I and our 2 Canadian backpacker friends barley fit. It was pretty funny. So this bus driver is absolutley oblivious to the fact that he has an over-capacitated bus and not a ferari. I got a bad spot where the railing was far away on all sides, so I'm hanging like a money trying to avoid smelly greek armpits and trying to stay alive. The bus driver actually drove off with people who hadn't gotten all the way in the bus yet. So these two guys are hanging on for dear life and we're trying to pull them in the bus when the driver just slams on the breaks, yells at them and makes them get off the bus. It was bizarre. Luckily we guessed the right stop to get off at and were able to purchase Ferry tickets for that night to Santorini. The boat was to leave at 10pm and get there at 7am.

When we got on the boat, it was huge, like a not-so-nice cruise ship, and the ticket guy pointed to the top deck and said, there no here. The here being inside. Well we had no idea what that meant so we just happily went up to admire the view from one of the upper decks. Little did we know that that meant we werent allowed to sleep inside and that we had to sleep on the benches on the upper decks. It was so bizarre, there were tons of confused looking backpackers trying to figure out if we actually had to sleep on the top deck. I was pretty excited at first, sleeping outside can be nice...and then the wind started to pick up. It was totally insane. i think Dave and I both had about 5 layers on. We just drank our beers with our other backpackers trying to stay warm totally contenet to be on a Ferry to the Greek Isles. We attempted to sleep, we got in our sleep sacks and everything, jealous of all the actual sleeping bags and laid down on the benches. I was able to sleep for a little bit, but was so cold that I actually (it was so gross) laid down on the deck inbetwwen our backpacks to try to block the wind. I wa spretty comfy, as comfy as you can get on a salty concrete upper deck of a Greek ferry boat in a windstorm when dave woke me up and was like, this isnt working, lets go inside. So we go inside and the scene was bizarre. People trying to sleep everywhere, on the floors inbetween chairs and all sorst of odd positions. I ended up laying down on a hardwood floor for a few hours. Finally we gave up and went back up to the deck to see the view.

Greece is unreal. Our friend we met in Prauge told us about this place he stayed in in Santorini. He said it was close to the beach, had a big pool and yada yada we should stay there. So we get off the Ferry to hundreds of Greek hotel owners trying to get you to stay with them. So we're standing there trying to decide what to do and the owner of thie same hotel our friend told us about approached us. He was the only one of hunderds who came up to us, we were lucky.

So now, we are doing absolutley nothing in the insane beauty of the Greek Isles. If anyone is planning a vacation, just come here. Its cheap and georgeous. But I'm off the the beach now, the sand is not actually sand but what remains of a volcanic explosion hinderds of years ago. The sand is red on one beach and black on another. Pictures will follow soon. Bye eyeveryone!